


Only a Matter of Time

by BriMarie



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Aged Up, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fake Persona, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Ricky Bowen (HSMTMTS), Nini Salazar roberts - Freeform, Ricky Bowen Needs A Hug (HSMTMTS), Ricky Bowen is Whipped (HSMTMTS), Soft Ricky Bowen (HSMTMTS), Strangers to Lovers, Tabloids, Undercover, accidentally falling in love, devil in disguise, high school musical the musical the series - Freeform, hsmtmts, inspired by Mr. Deeds, lowkey inspired by how to lose a guy in 10 days, lying, ricky bowen - Freeform, rini - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29832951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriMarie/pseuds/BriMarie
Summary: Nini is one of New York's finest journalist and tabloids, always being the first to report drama. When her boss challenges her unit to get an article about New York's infamous bachelor Ricky Bowen's love life, Nini is the first to accept the challenge. But will she let her feelings get in the way of her work?
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts, Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 23
Kudos: 23





	Only a Matter of Time

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely inspired by _How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days_ and _Mr. Deeds_
> 
> Fun fact: this was originally gonna be named after the P!ATD song "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off." I even considered naming it Lie, Lie, Lie since it goes well with the fic, but I chose Only a Matter of Time since it was more emotional.

Nini Salazar Roberts was _not_ one to play around when it came to her work.

She didn't get her title as "The Scavenger" at the New Yorker Magazine headquarters for no reason. She always was looking for whatever scraps she could find to make a headline even if the topic she was given wasn't that interesting.

She once made a simple story about a dog she saw playing with her puppies on the street about a struggling mom supporting her puppies on the cold and ruthless streets of New York. She got quite a hefty check after the amount of positive feedback she got for that story.

However being a pro tabloid meant you needed to be willing to get down and dirty sometimes, even if that means stepping on a few toes on her ladder to success.

She was currently typing the last few words on her latest article about a local pub. When she finished, she let out a sigh of relief and slumped down in her chair.

Her coworker and best friend, Kourtney, smiled at her. "Finally finished that article?"

Nini nods and lets out a yawn. "It only took me a week, but I finished. Thank God."

"You think you'll bring in some good numbers again?"

"Oh most definitely. When do I not?"

The sound of dress shoes could be heard throughout the office, and everyone grew familiar with the noise. It was no one other than their manager Carlos Rodriguez, a.k.a. the most cutthroat and unapologetic person you will ever encounter.

Behind him was his timid, submissive, and passive assistant Ashlyn who was perfect for Carlos since she obeys all his orders without a fuss. Most people were intimidated by him, but Nini had earned his respect a few years ago when he realized how valuable she was to their company.

He stood in the center of all the cubicles basically demanding all eyes on him. (It was almost impossible to not notice his loud pink flower suit and designer shades). He stood on a nearby desk to make sure everyone saw him and dramatically whipped off his shades.

"Gather around everyone, and make sure you're listening because the good Lord knows I sure as hell don't have time to repeat myself. I have a new project for anyone who's willing to commit to a pretty difficult job. It will require a lot of time, effort, patience, and master manipulative skills."

Nini perked up in her seat, immediately waking up when she heard a potential challenge. Carlos pulled out a folded up picture from his pocket and showed it to the office.

"This fine piece of ass is Ricky Bowen. Does anybody know who he is?"

Kourtney raised her hand. "Yes, he's New York's infamous bachelor. He owns like half of all the biggest clubs in NYC. I heard he's a total flirt."

Carlos somewhat gave her a smile. "Thank you for the brief summary Kourtney. He is indeed a very known man with a very large following, which means he would be a great person to interview for a column since many women would be intrigued to read about his romantic life. There's one small problem though. Ricky _hates_ being interviewed like _a lot_ , which is why this will be such a challenging project, Ashlyn."

He snaps in Ashlyn's face awaiting for her to give him what he wants. She quickly places the plaque in his hands, and he lifts it above his head.

"Whoever successfully gets some dirt on his love life, whether that means twisting the truth or not, will receive this plaque that states you are an honorary member of the board of excellence of the New Yorker, and we all know how much of an honor that is of course."

Nini's eyes twinkled at the sight of the golden tablet. Only the best of the best journalist get to own a plaque on the board of excellence in the New Yorker. Nini had always dreamt of getting one since only ten people in history have ever received one.

The last person to get one was a woman named Jenn, but that was 15 years ago. Nini could see her name on the wall already.

"And just to make things more interesting, I have decided to award the winner a bonus at the end of the year and an additional week of vacation. Any takers?"

Nini jumped out of her seat so fast that she was amazed she didn't get whiplash. "I'll take it!"

Carlos smirked. "Nini, why am I not surprised?"

"You know me, I love a good challenge."

"Oughta girl." He stepped down from the desk and approached her. "By agreeing to this, you're saying that you are willing to spend a lot of hard hours and will guarantee my satisfaction. You know that, right?"

Nini nods. "Yes, of course!"

"Good, I know you're an amazing journalist who has never failed me yet, so I have high expectations. I don't care how you get it done; just do it. I expect an occasional update, and expect you to be finished within the next three months. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

"Fabulous, I'm excited to see what you come up with. The pressure is on. Now if you don't mind, I have brunch I am fashionably late for." Carlos spins on his heel and puts on his shades.

"Ashlyn, give me a beat."

She takes out her phone and plays an upbeat drum solo as Carlos struts out.

Nini waits until he's out of earshot before she squeals of excitement.

"Why am I not shocked you were the first to snag the job?"

"Because you've known me since we were in kindergarten and know I don't back down from a challenge. I'm so gonna nail this; I can already hear Carlos praising me." Kourtney gives her a fake smile that Nini notices. "Alright what's wrong? That's your doubtful face."

Kourtney shrugs. "I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this. I mean, we rarely ever spend extensive amounts of time with our subject. I'm pretty sure the longest anyone here as ever spent on an article is two weeks, and it was only because they had to go out of state."

"Are you doubting my work ethic?"

"No, not at all. It's just, I feel weird about you trying to milk out something from someone even though that's literally our job. I don't know. Maybe I'm just not a fan of this project."

Nini places a hand on her shoulder. "Kourt, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. I mean, what's there even to be worried about? He's just some pretty face with an ego. It'll probably be a quick and easy job."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Now I have to start researching this Ricky dude." Nini spun back around in her chair and began typing away.

Kourtney frowned and felt a weird feeling in her gut. A small part of her knew that something wasn't right about this, but she decided to ignore it for now.

***

Nini spent the next two days researching and studying all things Ricky Bowen. She was pretty sure she could tell anyone almost everything about his night life.

Turns out, he wasn't as easy to research as she thought since he wasn't too fond of press or photos, which meant his personal life wasn't that documented.

All she could really find was his social media, a few facts about his businesses, and stories his peers tell, which isn't that reliable. (It was dominantly women blabbing about how he was in the sheets).

She groaned as she looked at the 40th Instagram video of him attending a party at one of his clubs, trying to find anything on him but was disappointed when there was still no story.

She was about to give up for the night until she saw he uploaded to his story. She swiftly clicked on it.

_What's up guys? Tomorrow night, I will be hosting a ladies night with my partner EJ at Club Opera. All women get in free til' midnight, and they get one free shot of the liquor of her choice. I hope to see you there!_

She smirks victoriously. "Bingo."

All she had to do was plan the perfect outfit and persona to lure him in, and she knows the right person to call.

Board of excellence here she comes.

***

It was 30 minutes until she was going to approach Ricky, and she had to admit that she felt jittery. Of course anyone in her position would most likely feel a little nervous since she's about to lie to a complete stranger and hope to not get caught.

Nini has lied about who she was multiple times in her career to get stories, but this was a different level because she'd see him more than once. Everything had to be perfect or else this was going to be a total fluke.

She had invited her friend and neighbor, Seb, to help pick out her outfit and put Kourtney in charge of makeup. It had taken Seb a full hour just to choose the perfect outfit for her because according to him you can never be too picky when you wanna look appealing.

Kourtney was doing the finishing touches on Nini's eye makeup, and Nini was getting impatient with all this prepping.

"Ugh, how much longer?"

"Patience is key Neens. Don't want you looking like a damn racoon in front of all those people, especially Ricky."

"I'm pretty sure Ricky will be more focused on other things on my body than my eye makeup."

"What exactly do you intend on doing when you see him? I don't think you told me the full plan except that you were gonna seduce him."

"First, I'm going to give him a suggestive look that'll lure him to me. Then, I'll drag him somewhere quieter and more private so that we can start talking. After that, I'll ask him if he wants to get out of here, making him believe I want to sleep with him. I'll let him walk me to my house. Right before he enters, I'll say good night without a kiss, leaving him to want more."

Kourtney and Seb both looked at her surprised yet amused.

"Damn girl, you have a lot of confidence in yourself, but you'll definitely be able to pull it off with the outfit I chose. I made sure your twins would be popping out." Seb says.

"Yeah well I did my homework and know men like him love a good chase."

"What's your persona gonna be?"

"My first name is still gonna be my actual name, however I'm gonna go by Nina instead. My last name is gonna be Santiago. I'm an inspiring writer hoping to write for Scholastic by the time she's 30, but I'm currently working at the writing center of NYU. I came from Salt Lake City to the Big Apple to attend NYU to accomplish my dreams. I'm a witty tease who doesn't like social media."

Kourtney gave her an impressed look. "Okay, I see you've thought about this for a little while. I think you actually could pull this off. I see you kinda mixed your real life with it too. That's smart; it makes it harder to mess up if it's a little true."

Nini nods. "Yep! I'm bound to succeed. I have a secret camera in my necklace to catch every moment."

Kourtney applied the last coat of eyeliner. "Alright, you're all done!"

Nini looked at herself in the mirror and gave a nod of approval. "You guys did an amazing job! I actually feel like a different person."

"Once he sees you, he won't be able to resist!" Seb says.

Nini checks the time and realized she had to leave. "Well it's time. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" The pair said in unison.

When she leaves, Seb and Kourtney look at her like proud parents watching their kid graduate.

Seb wipes away a proud tear. "Look at my girl, going out to destroy hearts. I've taught her so well."

***

She enters the club with only one goal in mind. Find Ricky.

She had arrived early thinking that not as many people would be there, but there were at least 100 people inside already not including the staff, and it was only 11 pm. Okay, so maybe she underestimated how much women love getting into clubs for free. Not like she can blame them.

She pushes through the rowdy crowd of already intoxicated people on the dance floor and gets to an area on the stairs where she can have a good view of the premises. She scans the room and smiled when she saw the curly haired man playing pool on the second level.

She fixes her posture and gets herself in character. Here goes nothing. She struts up to the pool table he was at and turns her camera on. She had been the only woman upstairs, so it was impossible not to pay attention to her.

The men watched her as she stood in front of the table across from him. Ricky looks her up and down in both confusion and awe, causing him to miss the hole.

"Can I help you?"

She grins. "I think I'm the one that should be asking that."

He raises a brow. "And why is that?"

"Because your posture is all wrong. That's why you missed."

The other men all snickered at him, and he smirked liking that he was being challenged. "Oh yeah? How about you show me how it's done?"

"Sure, watch and learn." She snatched his stick from him and bent down in front of him, slightly grazing his waist. She already knew he was ogling her without looking. She hit the striped red ball and ended up getting two in. The other men applauded while Ricky observed her technique.

"Where did a pretty woman like you learn to play pool like that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

He smirked amused by her wittiness. "What's your name?"

She held her hand out for him to shake. "Nina Santiago. Pleasure to meet you."

He took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Trust me, the pleasure is all mine."

"And you are?"

He looks at her odd, clearly thrown off that she didn't know who he was. He probably hasn't met someone that didn't know who he was in a while. "Ricky Bowen, I co-own this club with my partner EJ. Have you never heard of me? I'm pretty well known in NYC."

Nini plays dumb and shrugs. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell. Maybe you just aren't big enough to be within my radar."

He chuckles. "You're feisty...I like it. What brings you to my club?"

"I was just walking by and saw this place. Figured it looked like fun."

"And what do you think so far?"

"It's alright I guess. I've been to better clubs." She turns on her heel and begins to walk away, not bothering to look back.

She hears footsteps behind her and smirks, already knowing who it was. He gently grabs her wrist, causing her to stop.

"Woah there, we were just starting to get acquainted."

"I didn't realize you were interested in getting to know me."

"Well it's hard to not want to know more about you. No one has ever had the balls to insult one of my clubs to my face and just walk off like that."

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings?"

He licks his lips. "No, actually if I'm being completely honest, your honesty is kinda intriguing."

He steps a little closer to her and glances at her lips. "Hey you wanna get out of here? This music is giving me a headache."

"You wanna leave your own club?"

"Yeah why not? I can come here any day I want. It's not every day a gorgeous woman speaks to you." He played with the ends of her hair, for a second, she almost breaks character.

"Alright Bowen I'll leave with you, but I'll have you know that I don't put out on the first meeting. Also, we have to be in a public place just in case you're some kinda psycho. Looks can be deceiving."

He laughed. "Fine by me princess."

He put his hand on the small of her back and led her out of the club. They walked on the sidewalk a few miles away from his club.

"So tell me about yourself Nina."

"I'm from Salt Lake, and I am an inspiring writer who works at the writing center in NYU, which I also attended."

"You're from Salt Lake?"

"Yep, born and raised."

"No way! I used to live there during my high school days."

That mildly concerned her because he could catch her in her lie. "Oh really? What school did you go to? Maybe we went to the same one."

"North High."

She internally relaxed. "I went to East High. No wonder we haven't met before."

"Ah gross, you're a wildcat?"

She let down her guard for a moment and nudged him. "Hey! Wildcats were superior. Besides, what kind of mascot is a badger?"

"Hey, badgers are ruthless animals!"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Tell me something about yourself Ricky. All I know about you is that you own a C plus club and suck ass at pool."

He nudges her lightly. "Well if there's anything you need to know about me, it's that I don't like when people know too much about me."

"And why's that? What do you have some alter ego you need to hide from the public?" She jokes.

"I happen to be a very private person, and I plan on keeping it that way."

"Is that why I've never heard of you?"

"No, my face always manages to find its way on some magazine or article. You just happen to live under a rock missy."

She makes a mock offended face. "Hey! Maybe I'm just not a fan of celebrity drama and the media. I don't have any social media and avoid all that garbage."

"Ah, now that makes sense why you don't know my name. Well I gotta admit, I'm kinda glad you don't know me."

"Why?"

"You'd already have an assumption in your mind of what I'm like. I never was a fan of assuming a person's character just by their outer appearance or what people say. I do it based off their energy."

She stopped walking when they reached an apartment complex. "What kind of energy did I give off?"

He scanned her up and down and smiled. "I find you very alluring."

She blushed, but didn't let him see that she was flattered. "What part of me is alluring?"

He steadily approaches her until he's towering over her. "Your wit, candor, challenging nature, and of course your beauty are very magnetic. I knew I had to get to know you."

He gently rested his hand on her hip and began rubbing circles. Nini was starting to see why so many women fell for this; he was extremely charming.

She decided to taunt him a little. She pulled him closer by his tie and made "fuck me" eyes at him. "You really wanna get to know me?"

He began leaning in and nodded. "Most definitely."

"Then meet me right here at 1 pm tomorrow and take me on a proper date."

She releases herself from his arms and began walking to the building, leaving him dumbfounded on the sidewalk.

"You're such a tease!"

She chuckles under her breath as she enters her building, not looking back. The moment she was out of his eye sight she let out a breath. Holy shit, she did it.

He ended up being the one to ask to be alone, but that was actually better for her case. First part of her plan was a success; she just hopes he shows up tomorrow.

***

The following day, Nini wasn't sure if he'd actually appear, but she still got dressed just in case he did. While she waited, she called Carlos to inform him of what happened last night.

"Nini, my favorite little tabloid. I'm assuming you're calling because you've got good news regarding the Ricky article."

"I sure do. As expected, he was very flirtatious and tried to sleep with me, but he was hesitant to open up to me. So I told him to take me on a date so that we can get to know each other more. I figured seeing how he treats his dates could be some good material."

"Yes, that sounds amazing! Damn girl, you must've got him hooked if he's willing to take some random woman out. Can't wait to see the recordings. Keep up the good work. Chau!"

When he hung up, Nini checked her clock, 12:58. He should be here very soon. She looks out her window, and had to do a double take when she saw that same head of curly locks. She almost couldn't believe it; Ricky Bowen standing in the exact spot she told him to meet her at wearing very casual clothes.

She smiled and grabbed her things before running down the stairs and barging out of the doors. He gave her his award winning smile, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't find it dreamy.

"You're early."

"Well I had to make a good first impression for our first date."

"Does that imply that there will be others?"

"I sure hope so." 

She walked in front of him. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'll give you a hint." He holds up a pair of roller skates from behind him. "Hope you have good balance."

"I happen to be pretty decent at skating."

"I'm sure I'm better Ms. Santiago."

"Ha, sure okay. I guess there's only one way to find out."

Turns out he was better at skating than her, but she'd never confess that to him. He had done laps around the rink, making faces or dance moves every time he zoomed passed her. She'd just roll her eyes or laugh at his silliness. He definitely had a lot more personality than she thought he would. Maybe that could be part of her report.

While she was distracted thinking of her article, she didn't notice the kid who rolled in front of her. Before she can react, she toppled over them. The child got up immediately, only giving a brief apology before rolling away.

As if on cue, Ricky's helping her up with a mildly worried face. "You alright?"

She dusted herself off. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

His concern turned into laughter. "Good, because honestly that was funny! You should've seen your terrified face as you went down."

She scoffed and punched his arm. "Shut up you dick!"

His laughing was contagious, and she ended up joining him. He grabbed her hand. "Come on, I think we've been here long enough. I'll treat us to some lunch."

He takes her to a hot dog stand that was a few blocks away from the rink. They sat on one of the benches, enjoying their meal.

"Is this where you take all your first dates?"

He smiles. "Nah, you're the first. I don't really do the whole dating thing."

"Why's that?"

He shrugs, and she thought he made a saddened face. "I don't know. I guess I'm not that good at that kind of thing. Haven't done it in so long, and I don't think I miss it all that much."

She wanted to ask more about that because she thinks this could lead to more material, but she catches the bummed look in his eyes and feels it'd be inappropriate to ask now.

"So why'd you agree to a date with me if that's not your scene?"

He meets her eyes and beams. "Like I said last night, I wanted to get to know you."

She still doesn't get why he was so interested in her, but it was clear that he'd be sticking around for a while. After they finished eating, he walked her back to her apartment.

"Well, it was a nice first date."

He smirks. "First date? Are you implying there will be more?" He mocks her former words from earlier.

Her cheeks redden as she rolls her eyes playfully. 

"Shush."

"I'd love to see you again Nina."

She furrows her brows. "Really?"

"Yeah, you're pretty cool even though you're a wildcat."

"You know on second thought, I don't think I'll be seeing you anymore." She says teasingly as she begins walking towards the stairs. He pulls her back to him.

"Alright, alright I'll stop. But before you go, can I have your number?" He gives his phone to her.

She smirks. "I don't know. The idea of having a badger in my contacts kind of disgusts me." 

He chuckles under his breath. "Damn, it's like that?"

She pretends to be annoyed. "I guess I'll give in and grace you with my number." She takes his phone, inserts her contact, and returns it to him. 

He held up his camera towards her. "Say cheese."

She didn't have time to pose before he already snaps the photo. He smiles when he sees the results. 

"This is perfect! It'll be great for your contact picture." 

"Hey, no fair! I didn't even get a chance to prepare."

He shrugs. "Life's tough, get a helmet."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"Fuck if I know; I didn't write Boy Meets World. It just sounded cool."

She holds out her hand for the phone. "Let me see the picture."

"Nope!" He says popping the p.

She tries to snatch it, but he backs away and holds it in the air, knowing damn well she was far too short to reach it. She hopped a few times before giving up. 

"You suck!"

He chuckles at her pouting face. "I'll tell you what. I'll send this picture to the number you gave me. If you don't reply, I'll know you gave me a fake."

She sighed and folded her arms. She admitted that he had a good reason to be suspicious. She's had her fair share of fake numbers and wouldn't be shocked if he had too. 

"You win this time badger. But if I do reply, you have to let me pose for an actual contact photo." 

He smirks. "I'll highly consider it." He places the phone in his inside jacket pocket. "I'll see you around wildcat." 

"You too." 

He gave her a fleeting smile before walking away. She went back up to her apartment and rested her things on the counter. A few moments later, she feels a buzz in her pocket. She automatically knew who it was despite the number not being saved. 

_"North High is superior. Pass it on."_ A picture of a badger appeared right after the text. 

She couldn't fight the smile that was forming on her cheeks. 

_"Okay, but was your high school the one that all three High School Musicals were filmed in? No? That's what I thought, Bowen. Wildcats are superior."_ She decided to match his energy by sending a gif of a wildcat.

_"A badger would win in a fight, and you know it Ms. Santiago and that's on that."_

She rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe she was having this conversation right now, but she admits she was amused. 

_"I'm willing to bet money on this."_

_"Is that a challenge?"_

_"Maybe."_

_"Fine, whoever can prove a badger would win in a fight (which will be me obviously) has to pay for the next date. Sound like a deal? "_

_"You're so on."_

_"Alright but when I win, you have to promise not to block me."_

She let out a laugh. _"We'll see about that. I'll talk to you later. Oh wait, you never sent me the pic of me that you took!"_

_"Oop seems like my Wi-Fi is acting iffy all of a sudden guess I'll have to talk to you later!!"_

She rolls her eyes lightheartedly. She changes his name to badger in her contacts before tossing her phone on the coffee table. She plopped down on the couch and found she couldn't stop blushing. 

***

Nini was feeling frustrated as she typed on her laptop in a local coffee shop in Manhattan.

It's been a week and a half since she's known Ricky, and she only knows that he likes taking girls on cheesy traditional dates. She knew that Carlos would want a report very soon, and she was annoyed with herself for not having a good story yet.

She knew she could so easily write some bullshit article on him and call it a day, but she wanted to make this as legitimate as she could make it. She knew this project wouldn't be a breeze, but she has never had a problem like Ricky.

Anytime he appears in her mind, she gets side tracked from her work and finds herself daydreaming or thinking about their short time together. Sometimes she forgets this was all a persona, and this connection they had was built off her lies.

She admits that a part of her wishes they were real friends. She can tell that they could have been really close, and maybe in another life be a little more than friends...no, she can't think like that. This was a _job._

She constantly reminded herself that she wasn't here to play nice no matter how incredible, funny, handsome, or alluring the subject is. She'd write this article and say goodbye after her three months are up, and that's final.

She places her face in her hands in exasperation from her writer's block. The sound of the door to the café ensues throughout the small coffee shop, but she didn't pay it any mind.

"Nina?"

The mention of her name catches her attention. She gasped when she saw the very man that had been the whole reason she was stressed out for hours now standing in front of her. Usually, she hated when someone that's causing her distress was in her presence, but Ricky always had this tendency to bring a smile to her face.

"Ricky, what're you doing here?"

"Why else would I be in a coffee shop?"

"Knowing you, you could be here to pick up some women."

He makes a faux offended expression and dramatically rests his hand over his heart. "Nina, surely you're not implying I'm just some whore."

Nini shrugs. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. The world may never know."

"Well for your information little miss judgy, I'm here because I happen to love this place's cappuccinos. Thank _you_ very much."

"If you say so Bowen."

"And what exactly are you doing here? Working on some project for the writing program?" He tries to peek over at her screen, causing her to hastily slam her laptop shut.

"Oh, yeah it's just something for the program. I don't want anyone to see it yet though since I have horrible writer's block."

"Can I see it when you're done?"

"No!"

He jumps a bit at her exclamation.

"Sorry, I'm just really insecure about it; that's all."

He holds his hands up in surrender. "Damn alright. I'm sure whatever you come up with will be amazing anyways. I don't even have to read it to know it'll be life changing."

She laughs nervously. "Yeah, that's one way to say it." She says quietly.

"Well I was just gonna grab a coffee and head home, but now that I bumped into you, maybe we can hang out for a bit."

She wanted to, but she really needed to come up with something for her article. "I don't know Ricky."

"Oh come on, you have writer's block, and I have a lot of free time until work. It was destined for us to hang out today. We can even go wherever you want."

She hated how everything he was saying made sense. Maybe another day with him would help her create new ideas. She had no real reason to decline him. She sighs. "Fuck it, why not?"

He perks up. "That's the spirit. Let me order my coffee, and we can head out."

She nods as she watches him walk to the counter. She packs all her belongings, turns on her hidden camera, and feels her palms sweating. That was something that started to become common when she was around him.

Not once in all seven years of her profession did she feel nervous about the person she writes about. She wasn't even this anxious on her first assignment, and she hated it.

He came back five minutes later with a coffee in one hand and an inviting smile. "Ready to go?"

"Uh yeah. Let's go."

They began walking aimlessly around the city; Ricky had been going on about some crazy incident at one of his clubs while Nini listened intently in case there was something worth documenting. She held onto the necklace camera as if she were afraid it'd magically fall off.

"What's up with you and that amulet anyways?" He asks out of the blue.

Her eyes widen for a second. "Oh um, why do you ask?"

"Well I figured it must be something of significance since you're always wearing it every time I see you. Must have some story behind it, right?"

_Oh, you have no idea..._

"It does, but it's really not that interesting. It's something I got from some antique store in Long Island."

"Hm, well it suits you well. Really brings out your eyes."

She blushes and shifts a few hairs behind her ear. "Thank you."

"Welcome." He wraps and arm around her shoulder. "Now, are we just gonna keep walking down this avenue, or are we gonna go somewhere?"

"Why, your feet getting tired already? Didn't take you for a weakling Bowen."

He rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.

"In all seriousness, I have no idea where to go." She says.

"Think of somewhere where you feel at peace."

She took a moment to think of the first place she goes to for relaxation. She snapped her fingers when a place came to mind; she couldn't believe she didn't think of it sooner.

She took his arm off her shoulder and held his hand. "I know just the place."

She leads him to a secluded park with close to no people. It was mostly just rows of flowers and willow trees, but one particular willow stood out from the rest since it was the only tree with pink flowers covering it.

"Welcome to my secret hide out. Sorry it isn't as extravagant as the places you're probably used to."

"Just because it's not somewhere fancy, doesn't mean it's not as nice."

"I guess you're right. Wanna sit under the tree?"

He kindly grins. "Anything you want."

She guides him under the spot she always sits in when she visits. They both rested against the bark as their hands were a few inches away.

"So..." He starts. "How did you find this place? It doesn't seem like somewhere that you'd just casually come upon."

She smiles as she remembers the story. "Well, it was actually a coincidence how I found this place. I had been searching for inspiration for a paper for my English class in freshman year. We had to talk about humans relationship with nature, which sounded so dumb to me. But as I looked for some place to write about, I accidentally ended up here because I got lost. The second I saw this serene park, I was blown away. Everyone was smiling, laughing, or wrapped in each other's arms. It was all so happy and peaceful. I knew that this had to be my topic. Ever since then, I've been coming here to just relax or to figure out my problems." 

She glanced over at him and noticed how attentive his gaze was. She wasn't used to men giving her that much attention when she rambles on about her interest, and she was taken aback by someone whose known as a bachelor to be genuinely engaged in her little story.

"Nina, that's the cutest thing I've ever heard." 

She huffs and begins blushing. "You think so?"

He smiles and nods. "I do. I'm kinda jealous that I don't have a place like that. A place to just wind down at sounds amazing to be honest." 

"Well NYC is big. I'm sure you can find a spot one of these days." 

"When I find one, you'll be the first I'll tell."

"I'm counting on it, but for now you're more than welcome to use mine."

"I think I'll take you up on that offer."

They both slowly form smiles as they meet eyes. He scoots a little closer to her and interlaces their fingers. His gesture makes her heart skip a beat and her cheeks flush. 

She didn't cure her writer's block today, but sitting here in the most tranquil spot of New York with him by her side makes her temporarily forget all of her problems just for a little while. 

***

Three weeks have passed since that day in the park, and she hasn't really learned much from any of the times she's spoken with him.

She tries to make something of her recordings, but only gets a little info on his personal life. She knows that he doesn't like dating for some reason and that he's a flirt yet also pretty sweet. She lets out a defeated sigh, accepting that today was a bust too. 

She feels her phone vibrate on her desk and rejuvenated when she saw his contact appear on her screen. 

_"Are you free tonight?"_

She smiles and swipes on her keyboard. _"Depends, what did you have in mind?"_

_"It's a secret! You have to dress a little fancy though."_

_"Should I be scared of this mystery place?"_

_"Only if you're scared of fun :D"_

_"When do I need to be ready?"_

_"I'll swing by at 10. Oh and by the way, I hope you got paid this week cuz I totally won our little bet. According to Yahoo answers, badgers would win by a long shot, so ha."_

_"Yahoo answers is full of lies."_

_"You just can't stand that wildcats are bottom tier."_

_"I'll block you if you continue this slander >:("_

_"That's a lie, and you know it."_

_"Annnnnyways, I'll see you later."_

_"Counting the seconds ;)"_

She tosses her phone aside and hops out of her seat. She had no idea just how fancy he wanted her to dress, but judging by how people were dressed at his club she can assume it must've been something she'd wear to a ball. 

Knowing that this wasn't her strong suit, she called up Kourtney and Seb for dolling her up again. She didn't know what it was, but something in her gut was telling her this was going to be one hell of a night. 

Many painful hours of hair and make up prep later, her friends managed to find the exact outfit to make Nini look stunning. Seb had chosen a golden backless dress that defined her curves in all the right areas. 

Kourtney had put on matching golden eye makeup and put her hair in a Cinderella bun. Nini of course wore her camera necklace to capture all the events of the night. 

Nini almost didn't recognize herself in the mirror. Her attention was turned towards her phone that had vibrated a few times. She perked up when she saw his text stating he arrived. 

She was almost shocked at how excited she was to see him. It kind of spooked her a bit if she were being honest; she decides to blame it on the anticipation of going to somewhere secret. 

The second she walked out of her complex, she couldn't help but take in Ricky's appearance. He had been wearing black slacks and a black button down with the first two buttons undone. He had a dark golden blazer that was the same color as hers. It was almost as if he had telepathically matched with her.

She also couldn't help but notice his eyes on her. His eyes scanned her body, and his mouth gaped open a bit. He clears his throat before speaking, and she swore she saw a blush on his face. 

"Wow you look...god you're beautiful."

She hides her blush by looking at the ground. "You don't look too bad yourself Bowen."

He walks up to her and holds his hand out for her to help down the stairs. She happily takes his hand and lets him take the lead.

"So, where are we walking to?"

He puffs air from his nose. "Walking? Please, I got us a ride for tonight. Can't have you walking around in heels. Also, can't risk some dude hitting on you duh." 

She rolls her eyes and lightly slaps his arm. "So where is this ride you speak of?"

"Right in front of us." He points to a vintage Mercedes that she could only dream of purchasing. 

She gasps. "Jesus Christ, how much does your job pay you?!" 

He laughs and opens up the passenger seat for her. 

"That's for only me to know sweetheart. Come on, we don't wanna miss the first performance of the night."

She raises a brow. "Ah, so we're going to some kind of live performance?"

He pretends to zip his lips. "I'm not saying another word about it."

He closes the door behind her before hopping in on the driver's side. The ride over to their mystery destination was comfortably silent with the exception of his music playing in the background. 

A half hour later, he pulls into some back lot that she admits didn't rub her the right way. She turns to look at him. 

"Where the hell are we?"

He smirks. "You'll see in a moment."

He pulls in front of some garage with a man dressed as if he worked for the Men in Black. Ricky rolls down his window and signs some form of code to the guard. Nini pointed her camera towards it since it might be useful info for her article. 

The guard gives him a curt nod and opens the door for them. As he parked, she notices all of the other fancy cars that she imagines the wealthiest people of New York could only afford. She spots a couple walking to the entrance with elaborate mask on, which confused her.

"Is this some type of masquerade or something?"

"Kind of. I brought you a mask since I figured you didn't own one." He whips out matching golden masks from his cupboard and hands one to her. 

"Do I have to wear it?"

He nods. "It's vital that you do. You can't go in without one."

"What are they gonna do if I don't, shoot me?" She giggles.

"Maybe."

When she sees he wasn't laughing along, she began getting nervous. "Wait, would they really shoot me?!" 

He kept a serious face as long as he could before cracking a smile. "I'm just fucking with you. They'd just ask us to leave." 

She lets out a breath before hitting his chest. "Don't scare me like that!"

He laughs as he places his mask on his face. "What, you can't take a little joke?"

She makes a mocking face while she puts on her mask as well. "Screw you, let's just go inside." 

He runs to the passenger side and opens her door for her. She interlocks her arm with his and follows his lead. When they get to the door guarded by another well dressed man, Ricky does the same sign he did at the gate. 

As they entered the building, Nini could hear the lively jazz like music blasting. The second they entered the main auditorium, Nini's mouth practically fell from her face. The place resembled some form of underground burlesque.

The servers were dressed to the nines alongside the guest. Trapeze artists had been dancing all across the ceiling. A live band had been performing very lively while a soul singer had been singing. There were guests dancing as if they were the cast of Grease or Hairspray, doing moves she always wished she could do. 

She must have been making a silly face because she can overhear Ricky giggling at her. 

"Like what you see?"

She nods. "Like it? I love this! I've never even seen a place this luxurious and full of life before. How did you even find this place?" 

He shakes his head. "I'm not allowed to say, but all you need to know is that I have a few connections across all of New York."

The lights begin to dim down and people began sitting in their seats. Ricky places his hand on the small of her back. "We should find a table. The show is about to start." 

He guides her to a spot near the stage and holds out a chair for her. The lights turn blue all across the building and burlesque dancers began appearing from random corners as they danced to the upbeat jazz music. One of dancers appeared behind Nini, startling her a bit.

The dancer gives her a friendly smile before placing a pearl necklace around her neck. Nini marveled at the jewelry on her neck in both amazement and shock. The pearls were authentic, and this woman just passed it to her like it was plastic. Just how rich were these people?!

The rest of the night had been a series of performances from different kinds of dancers and a lot of cocktails. Nini was sure this was probably the best club she's ever been to, and she was glad she was recording every second of it. 

When the announcer stated the dancers were going on a brief break, Nini decides this would be a good time to possibly dig up some dirt on him. 

"Is this where you take all your women Mr. Bachelor?"

He chuckles as he sips his gin. "No, never actually." 

That took her by surprise. "Wait, so I'm the first person you've brought here?"

"Well technically you're not the first. I brought my friend EJ here a few times, but you are the first woman I've invited."

"Why me?"

He forms a small grin. "I don't know. You just seem really different. I feel comfortable with you for some reason, and my gut is usually never wrong." 

She bit on the inside of her cheek and began blushing. "Well, it's an honor to be the first."

He interlaces their hands, steadily brings her hand to his lips, and presses a light kiss on it. She feels herself internally freak out a bit and was a little thrown off by her heart beating louder. 

A slow song begins playing, and a few of the guests start to gather on the dance floor. Ricky looks over to her. "Wanna dance?"

She grimaces. "Oh, I don't dance. I basically have two left feet. I'd embarrass us both."

He stands up from his spot. "Then I'll teach you. It's pretty simple." 

"But I'm not-"

"Come on Nina, live a little."

She stares at him challengingly before finally sighing in defeat and taking his hand. "Alright fine, but if I step on your foot, it's 100% your fault."

He smirks. "I'll take those chances." 

They walk to the center of the dance floor, and he rest his hands on her waist. She wraps her arms around his neck as he begins slowly swaying them. 

"See, you're a natural. All that worrying for nothing." 

She smiles and looks into his eyes, which she almost immediately regretted. She's not sure what it was, but she was suddenly captivated by his glance. He apparently must've been in the same state because he couldn't keep his eyes off of hers either.

She absentmindedly pushed her body completely against his. One of his hands had roamed up her back to pull her closer (and maybe so that he could have more skin contact). 

He ended up laying his forehead on hers, and for a second she thought that maybe he planned on kissing her. If he wanted to, he never acted on it. And she may or may not have been a little disappointed by that. 

As they danced in comfortable silence, she felt as if they were in their own little world. Just for a moment, she forgets all about her mission and took a minute to enjoy his company. 

The night had gone by a lot quicker than she had liked. They probably had been in that underground club for hours, but it felt like mere minutes. She doesn't know how Ricky does it, but he always manages to make it feel like she was running out of time due to them having fun. 

He pulled up to her complex and parked the car. She looked over at him and gave him a smile. "Tonight was amazing. I think that was the best date I've ever been on. I even got a souvenir to always remember it by." She held up the pearl necklace resting on her collarbone. "Do they always just hand out free jewelry? Like what the hell?"

Ricky chuckled and nodded. "Actually yes. They give it out like candy on Halloween at every party." 

"Fucking rich people." She says under her breath.

Ricky smirks. "Come on, I'll walk you to the door." 

He quickly hops out and opens the door for her, taking her hand in his. Unlike prior times, he actually interlaced his fingers with hers, making it all the more intimate. 

"Wait, I don't have to pay for all of that right? I knew we agreed on whoever was the loser of that bet had to pay the bill for the next date, but I can assure you-"

Ricky held up his hand. "No worries. I was just kidding about that anyways. I'd never let you pay the bill."

"Well what if I wanted to pay the bill? I make money too you know."

"You'd have to fight me for it."

"Is that a challenge, Bowen?"

"Is everything a battle with you?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"You're a lot to handle, you know that?" 

She gives him a cocky smile. "Yes, yes I do." 

They arrive at the top of the mini staircase and face each other. Ricky's free hand joins her vacant hand. 

"Well Nina, this was fun even though you stepped on my feet a little bit during the dance."

She made a mock offended face. "I told you I would!"

"That doesn't erase the bruises that'll appear on my feet in a few hours Ms. Santiago."

"You said you were willing to take the chances."

He grins and gently squeezes her hands. "I never said I regretted it." 

Nini blushes and nervously bites her lip. "Anyways, I think we should probably call it a night." 

"Yeah..."

They stare at one another, both waiting for someone to say something first. Ricky's eyes flicker between her lips and her eyes. Nini begins to mimic his motions and steps a little closer to him. He releases her hands from his and rests them on her waist.

Her arms slither up his torso until they're wrapped around his neck. He began leaning down while she got on the tip of her toes. They met in the middle for a sweet yet passionate kiss. Nini felt a wave of contentment wash over her entire body as she pressed her lips harder against him.

He pulled her body closer to his, leaving no room for air. She grazed her hands through his hair, pulling lightly on some of his chocolate curls. Much to both of their dismay, he pulled away to breathe.

He rubbed his thumbs on the small of her back. 

"Wow."

Nini's face begins to heat up. "Um well, this was an unexpected ending to the night."

"A good ending I hope."

"Yeah." She swirls her finger around one of his loose curls. "A very good one." 

"Well, you should probably get in. I've gotta wipe all this make up off." He points at some of the lipstick she left on his lips.

She snickers. "Goodnight Ricky."

"Night." He pecks her cheek before walking back down the stairs. He spins around on his heel and whips out his phone. "Nina."

She turns to him and jumped when she saw a flash come from his phone. "Did you seriously take another picture of me?"

He chuckled. "Yep, you wanted me to have a nicer profile pic for you anyways, right?"

"I mean, yeah."

He makes a smug look. "Alright then, so you can't complain. See you later wildcat." 

She rolled her eyes. "Bye badger." 

She snuck a final glance at him before entering her building, recapping that amazing kiss they shared a minute ago. She felt an unfamiliar feeling in her heart that she couldn't explain, and she thinks she's too afraid to inspect what it was.

***

Nini is feeling really weird.

A full month and a half with Ricky has been pretty...incredible.

She's not supposed to enjoy this project because the subject themselves was fun to be around. She was supposed to be loving this because she is in arm's reach of what would be one of the highlights of her life, yet she can't seem to not enjoy Ricky when he's around. 

It was _super_ annoying. 

And not to mention that _kiss._ That damn _good_ kiss.

It's been haunting her. She can still taste his lips on hers and wonders if he can too. She wouldn't know; they haven't spoken of it since. 

And she's finding it even harder to get him off her mind since she's currently sitting on his couch in his enormous penthouse waiting for him to find whatever it is he's looking for in his freezer. 

He had invited her over earlier in the day asking if she maybe wanted to chill at his place and watch a movie. She of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to be in his home. She could get to know a lot about him just by looking at how he lives, and maybe he'll share something no one else has heard. She was really excited for their little date. 

For the sake of the project of course. 

"Got it!"

He holds up a bag of pizza rolls with a gleeful smile. 

She gives him a pointed look. "You said you were preparing a gourmet meal for two."

"And I kept my word."

"Pizza rolls aren't gourmet, badger."

"Only a wildcat would say something so horribly wrong."

"How am I the prissy one between the two of us when you literally can afford a Porsche?" 

"It's because I have taste in food, and you don't."

"Debatable." 

"If you don't want any, by all means scan through my mostly empty pantry." 

"Woah, who said I didn't want any? Pop those bad boys in the oven."

"So you started a whole hissy fit just for the hell of it? Typical wildcat behavior."

"What can I say? I love a little pointless banter before dinner." 

He smirks as he places the rolls on the cooking sheet and preheats the oven. He joined her on the couch and grabbed the remote. 

"So, what movie do you badgers watch?"

"Well, I actually wanted to show you my favorite movie of all time."

"Oh this should be good."

"Oh it most definitely is miss sassy pants." 

"And what is this miraculous movie you speak so highly of?"

"I'll give you a hint, John Cusack."

"Thank you for that very descriptive hint."

"There should be only one movie that appears in your head when you hear that name."

"Serendipity, 2012, Hot Tub Time Machine?"

"Fair guess, not even close, and hell no."

"Welp, I'm out of ideas." 

"It's Say Anything!" 

"Oh yes, how could I have not gotten that after all the clues you gave me? How silly of me."

"Yes, it was _very_ silly of you."

"I've actually never seen this movie before."

He gasped overdramatically as he gripped at his chest. He looked at her as if she just told him she just hit his car. "Nina Santiago, I cannot believe you went 26 years of life without seeing the best romance film of all time."

She shrugs. "I just never got to it. My job keeps me busy." 

"Well, you're in for a treat."

The oven beeps signaling it was ready. He hops up from his spot. "While I put in the pizza rolls, you need to mentally prepare yourself to be absolutely blown away by true art." 

She mock salutes. "I'll get right on that." 

After the food was done, he put the rolls in one bowl so they could share. He wraps his arm around her shoulder and turns on the movie. She was a little lost since the plot was bizarre but was amused nonetheless. Every time she glimpsed over at him, he was fully engrossed. 

Has his side profile always been so perfect? She doesn't know how she didn't notice that sooner...

She also catches the fact that he had this longing look on his face at times throughout the film. When the end credits roll on the screen, she turns over to him to see that same yearning expression on his face. 

She lightly nudges him. "Everything alright?"

He snaps out of his daze and weakly smiles. "Oh yeah, my bad." 

"You looked pretty sullen for a person who was watching their favorite movie."

"Did I?" 

She nods. He sighs, closes his eyes, and leans his head back on the top of the couch cushion. "Sorry about that. I started randomly remembering a painful memory mid movie."

"How so?"

He grimaces. "I thought of McKenna." 

"Who's McKenna?"

"My ex."

That through her off. "You have an ex?!"

"Well, don't sound so shocked."

"I mean, you did say very clearly that you don't date."

"That'd be correct."

"You've never once mentioned a former girlfriend."

"Former fiancé actually."

"What?!"

"Yeah..."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened between you two?" She saw how his face had turned sour and felt she had struck a nerve. "You don't have to answer if that's too personal."

He waves her off. "It's fine." He takes a deep breath. "She was my last serious relationship before I quit dating. I really thought she was it for me, you know? We had been together for three years before I asked her to marry me. After she agreed, I thought it was only up from there. Boy was I wrong. I decided to give her a little surprise visit at our place since I had a little free time before I had to go back to work, but she ended up giving me an even bigger surprise. When I walked into the bedroom, she was laying on top of one of her best friend's on the bed that I bought for the both of us."

Nini was shook to her core. "Ricky, that's terrible."

"I know. I think the worst part was that she had the audacity to try to make it seem like it was somehow my fault. I regretted walking into that room for years, but I'm glad it happened the way it did because then I would've been in a fruitless marriage with her." 

She rested her hand on his thigh. "I'm sorry that happened to you. You didn't deserve that. No one does." 

He laid his hand on top of hers. "It's okay. That was years ago. The scar isn't fully healed though hence why I halted dating for the time being with the exception of a few flings that meant nothing, and even the occasional one night stand bites me in the ass at times."

"How so?"

"I'm not the bachelor those media outlets say I am." 

She was shocked. "You're not?"

"Not even close. The articles make me appear as some dude who has a different woman in bed every other day, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I don't really sleep around at all. I only did that first few months after my break up and stopped."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. Every single column about me has been false, and I'm aware some of the women I was seen with probably told a fake story for a quick buck whether I slept with them or not. That tends to happen a lot actually."

Nini was truly amazed about all this new info she received from him. She actually felt pretty bad for the guy since the press seems to always be tracing his every step. 

"This sounds like an endless nightmare."

He shrugs. "You get used to it." He shakes his head and puts on a staged smile. "Enough about my little sob story. What'd you think of the movie?"

She wanted to dive deeper into that whole story he just told her but figured she should back off for now. "It was aight I guess. The ending was a little cheesy even for an 80's film."

He gasped. "You kiss your mothers with that foul mouth of yours?!" 

She chuckled. "I said what I said."

"What you said needs to be unsaid."

"Can't change the past." 

"But I can change the future. I'll make you love this movie."

"We'll see about that." 

The energy of the room thankfully returned to playful. She felt something in her chest again. That same annoying feeling she had at the café and the same one she had before she came here. She prays it'll go away with time because she knows that whatever it was would be her downfall if she lets it consume her.

So instead of dwelling on her emotions, she also puts on a fake smile as she faces him.

"Wanna watch High School Musical?"

"Are you asking as a pawn to shit talk my high school again and brag about how yours was the one where the movies were filmed?"

"Maybe."

"You're getting predictable Santiago."

"Is that a no?"

"Of course we're gonna watch it. I too enjoy watching Troy dramatically sing about his feelings. I'm not a heathen."

She just chuckles and rolls her eyes as she turned on the first film. 

***

She knows what she's feeling, but she wouldn't dare say it out loud.

She knows as she stares at this 1k word article that it was essentially nothing. She thought the lack of quality in her content would be the reason behind her negative feelings, but it was quite the opposite.

It was guilt.

It felt gross to internally admit, but it was true.

She doesn't even remember the last time she's felt remorse for her work. Being a tabloid meant sympathy was nonexistent, yet here she is trying her best not to break down and cry as she blankly reads her words. 

She hates every syllable, every clause, every adjective, and every single incorrect fact on her monitor. It made her sick, so sick that she had to click on another tab so she couldn't be bothered with it. 

She looked at her calendar and saw that her due date was a month and a half from now. She wasn't sure how to feel about the rapidly approaching deadline that was either gonna make or break her career, so she did the thing she does when she doesn't know what do. Have a long sip of cheap wine.

She submits what she has in a pdf to Carlos for approval to publish and shuts her laptop, not wanting to think about this any longer. She leaves her bedroom and opens one of the kitchen cabinets to pull out some white wine she hasn't tasted yet.

She grabs the first glass she sees, not caring about the size as she pours the drink until it reached the rim of the glass. She took a hefty sip as she drug her feet to her couch. 

She turns on her TV and immediately recognized the familiar character Walter White on her screen. She couldn't help but humorlessly chuckle at the irony of his favorite show being played as she suffered from pondering about what she thinks ~~knows~~ was the worst decision of her life.

She hears the sound of her laptop informing her she got a notification from her email, already knowing it was Carlos responding. She didn't even have to check what he said. He only replies that quickly when he gave her the green light. 

She usually would feel ecstatic and would pour herself a sweet glass of champagne to celebrate yet another victory, but this felt like a defeat, and the wine in her hands tasted equally as bitter as the feeling in her heart. 

Maybe it was karma trying to punish her; she couldn't say she doesn't deserve it. Instead of changing the channel, she lets it play. She even turned it up until it was louder than her thoughts. She closed her eyes and let herself drown in her self-loathing. 

***

Exactly three days after she submitted the article, Nini gets a call at 1:30 in the morning. The blaring noise of her obnoxious ringtone wakes her up from her restless sleep.

She squinted her eyes at the bright screen and pressed answer without checking the ID. "Hello?" She says groggily. 

"Neens, they did it again."

She automatically noticed the voice and sat up straight. "Ricky?"

"They really don't know when to stop."

She could tell that he had been drinking by the slur in his words. "What're you talking about?"

"The press. There was another article about me, but this one is different. It's just fucked. Everything is fucked up." 

She put two and two together and felt her heart drop. "Oh..."

"I don't know what to do Neens. I didn't know who else to call." 

"It's fine." It wasn't. _Nothing_ about what she did was even remotely fine. 

"I'm sorry for waking you up with my bullshit. I promise I don't do this often." 

"Don't apologize." A long period of time goes by with no one speaking. Nini sighs, breaking the silence. "Do you want me to come over?"

He nods before remembering she couldn't see him over the phone. "Yes, please."

"I'll be there."

She hangs up and rests her hands on her face. She felt her lips quiver and her eyes water. She hated that she was even crying because she doesn't deserve to feel anything at all when she was the villain.

It only takes her 20 minutes to arrive at his place. The second he opens his door, she can see he was clearly torn up about the article. His eyes were red and puffy, his clothes were wrinkled, and he smelt of vodka. 

"Hey." She says. 

"Hi."

"I brought Donettes from my pantry." She held up the bag. "Sorry that some of it is already eaten, but I didn't have time to stop by the store."

"It's fine." 

He opens the door wider for her, and she enters and takes a seat on his couch. He joined her and sat directly beside her. He stared directly in front of him, not sparing her a single glance. She fiddled with the seal of the doughnut bag. 

"I know that tabloids make stories about people all of the time for a quick buck. I've seen some crazy accusations about my sex and love life through the years. None of them have truly bothered me. Matter of fact, I usually laugh it off with some of my buddies. But this recent article really hit home. It seemed like someone wanted to hurt me for some reason." 

That made her raise a brow. "What do you mean?"

He took out his phone and handed it to her. "Take a look yourself." 

She took the phone and began scrolling. She furrowed her brows the second she read the first paragraph. It was _none_ of the words she wrote. 

All of her work had been rearranged into some fraud story about him being some playboy who doesn't know how to respect women due to his inability commit. It even listed some of the places he'd commonly take these supposed women that were not in her report. 

Her mouth gaped when she read the last paragraph about how he had discarded the women when he was through with them. It was all completely false and made him appear as some misogynistic asshat, which was far from the truth.

What she originally wrote was actually pretty positive, explaining how he was actually sweet under the guise of a playboy. She spoke about his playful nature, sincerity, and how he was a flirt. She didn't say too much about the more personal things he spoke about, but she did add a few fake stories to make it interesting enough for a story. It was never meant to demonize him. 

"Oh my god Ricky, this is awful." 

He just nods. "I don't know why they're doing this to me. Why would they make me appear as some asshole just for ratings? I never did any of this shit, and now all of NYC probably thinks I'm some scumbag that'll screw any woman that approaches me. This doesn't just taint my reputation, but it could have a negative effect on my business." 

"I don't think they meant to cause harm." _I didn't mean to hurt you._

He scoffs. "Doesn't mean it didn't cause any damage." 

She looks down in her lap in shame. "I'm really sorry Ricky." She chokes on her words due to the lump in her throat. 

"I can't stand people like that. I hate this."

"Yeah, I-I hate this too." _I hate me._

"I just want to disappear and pretend my problems will magically fix themselves."

A minute of quietness goes by before Nini looked up at him. "Wanna lay your head down?" She patted her lap.

He looked at her for the first time since she arrived and nodded at her offer. He shifted his body so that his head could lay comfortably on her lap. She combed through his curls to soothe him. She watches as he slowly drifts off into a deep slumber. 

When she's confident he couldn't hear her, she lets herself cry as quietly as she could. This was the first time she has ever seen the results of her work, and she really despised it. She wonders if others have gone through what Ricky was experiencing, and she felt her guilt piling on. She placed a feather light kiss on his cheek.

"I'm so sorry. I wish your pain were mine." 

***

Nini was pretending to work as she typed random words into her desktop. She lacked motivation after witnessing the toll her article took on Ricky a couple of days ago. 

She couldn't get his crestfallen face out of her head; it was like he was haunting her. Carlos comes barging into the room with Ashlyn following close behind, causing everyone to sit up straight. He was strutting towards Nini's desk, and Nini noticed that for once he wasn't smiling.

She couldn't say she was shocked since she hasn't given him a decent story in well over a month. Carlos stood right in front of her desk and rested a hand on his hip. 

"Nina, we need to talk in private."

The people in the surrounding area all gasped in disbelief. Carlos only used her real name when he was upset, and they knew private talks were never pleasant with him." 

Nini gulped but tried her best to hide her nervousness. "Yeah, absolutely."

Nini followed behind Carlos to his office, trying to pretend as if she can't hear the hushed whispers from her colleagues. When they arrived at his office, she sat across from his desk with her head hanging low. 

Carlos laid his head on his knuckles. "I think you and I both know why I called you in." 

Nini nods. "Yeah..."

"Nini, it's been two months since I've signed you the Ricky case, and I got some fluffy little article that I had to have the team alter so that it was something worth publishing. What's going on?"

"I just don't have enough resources or time. He was definitely more than I thought he'd be."

"Should I have someone else take over? If it's too difficult, then maybe someone more qualified could-"

"No, I wanna do it. I _can_ do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

Carlos sighs and slumps into his seat. "Alright I'll let you continue, but you need to step up your game or else I'll get a replacement, understood?"

She nods. "Yes, sir." 

"Good, you're dismissed." He shooed her away.

As she was getting out of her seat, something he said caught her attention. It was something that had irked her since the article was released.

"Uh Carlos, can I ask you something?" 

"What's up?"

"Why did you change my story? If you didn't approve it, you just should've not published it."

"Well if you saw my email, I said I was going to alter it to add more spice to it. It was far too cutesy for this company. Did you not see my response?"

"Well no, I never looked at it after sending it."

"That's on you boo. Either way, don't send in something adorable like that. If I wanted to experience that, I'd watch some crappy 80's rom-com. I only took it in because we literally had nothing from this case." 

She rubbed her arm awkwardly. "Sorry I guess."

"Me too. Now, get back to work. I have a long list of people to attend to."

She sees her way out of the office and walks back to her cubicle. She let out a defeated sigh as she plopped down in her seat. 

Kourtney spun around in her chair. "Girl, everyone is talking about you. What the hell did Carlos say?" 

Nini slowly spun to face her longtime friend with a dreadful expression. "I fucked up with the Bowen story."

"How?"

"I haven't been sending in anything good since I've started. He threatened to take my project away, but I promised I'd do better."

"Well, why aren't you already hopping on your computer? You always start typing away when someone tells you to improve." 

Nini shrugs. "I guess I'm just feeling a little dispirited. Not to mention that I've also had horrible writer's block." 

Kourtney analyzes her friend before finally understanding what was really going on. "Oh I see what's happening here." 

Nini scrunched her brows. "What're you talking about?"

Kourtney smirks as she folded her arms. "You totally are too attached to Ricky. Matter of fact, I'd even go as far as saying you fell for him."

Nini gasped and began blushing. "Bullshit!" She says a little too pitchy for her liking.

"Oh please, you totally have a thing for him. You have never once had writer's block or took this long to write some story off a subject. He's got you completely wrapped around his finger. Don't deny it."

Nini kicked her friend's leg. "Shut up, I do not!" 

"Kicking me doesn't change your undeniable feelings for the playboy."

"He's not a playboy!"

Kourtney smirks. "Ha, that was a test. You never have defended a subject before. God, you're smitten." 

"Whatever Kourt." 

Nini flipped off her friend before spinning to face her monitor. Kourtney just giggled as she returned to her work. Kourtney's words echoed in Nini head, and it made her flustered because deep down she knew that her words held some truth to them.

***

"Ricky, when can I take off my blindfold?"

"When it's time."

"Is this another elite Gatsby style underground party again? Cuz I'm not dressed for the occasion."

"Nope." 

"What's up with you and surprise dates anyways?" 

"Life is more eventful when you don't expect anything coming your way."

"It also could be more dangerous."

"Didn't realize you were such a pussy Neens. Then again, you are a wildcat, so that adds up."

She slaps his arm. "Stop dissing my old school!" 

"You and I both know that'll literally never happen sweetheart. We're basically like the Montagues and Capulets, forever disagreeing." 

She feels her heart skip a beat at the term of endearment. She hears waves crashing on the surface and the smell of saltwater nearby. 

"Alright, now you can take off your blindfold." 

She rips off the cloth and couldn't believe the sight in front of her. Just a few feet from her stood a huge yacht with the name "Rosie" on it. She peeked up at him to see his amused smile.

"Ricky, you didn't."

"Oh, but I did."

"You rented a boat for a date?"

"Well no, I own it."

"You said that like that wasn't a big deal."

He shrugs. "Eh, you kinda get used to it after a while."

"This is truly an incredible surprise."

"Wanna see the inside?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes please!"

He loops his arm with hers and guided her to the boat. He led them to the main lounge room that was filled with expensive furniture and glassware. There was an already prepared table with a full diner set and bread in the middle. 

There was a server standing at the bar in the kitchen waiting for them, greeting both with a warm smile. "Good evening to you both. What drinks would you like to begin with?"

"Martini for me." Ricky says. 

"Literally anything is okay with me."

The server nods and begins making their drinks. Ricky turned to her. "So what do you think?"

She beams. "Ricky, this is stunning! I think this dethrones all the other dates."

"Glad you like it. Let's sit because I'm starving, and that bread is calling my name." 

He leads her to the table and the server follows close behind them with their drinks. Dinner had been lovely. Ricky had been his usual charming and playful self while Nini had been matching his sardonic energy with just as witty comments.

They would occasionally play footsies under the table as they chatted the night away. Nini couldn't stop the stupid smile from growing on her face or the growing attraction to the man in front of her. Her heart doesn't think she can handle all the emotions he makes her feel. It was terrifying how much this man dominated her mind and heart.

"Nina?"

"Yes?"

He stands up and offers her a hand. "Would you care to dance with me?"

She smirks playfully. "Will you complain about me stepping on your toes again?"

He snickers. "I'll try my best to resist the urge." 

She takes his hand and takes a rather close step to his chest. "Then yes."

He grins and takes her to an empty area of the boat. The server turns on "In Your Eyes" from Say Anything and leaves them be. Ricky rests his hands on her waist while her arms were around his neck. They swayed in blissful silence for a little bit as they stared into each other's eyes.

"Your dancing has gotten a lot better, wildcat."

"Well I got a little self-conscious about last time, so I practiced a bit."

"You did all that for me? How adorable."

"Shush."

"I have the inability to shut up Nina. We know this."

"Oh trust me, I'm very aware of that fact. God bless the woman that ends up with you because you're a lot to handle." 

"Who says I'll ever end up with someone?"

Her smile falters a bit. "What do you mean?"

"What if I never find the one?"

"Ricky, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not."

She gives him a dire look and stops swaying. "Don't say that."

"What? It's true. Maybe I haven't earned the right to be loved."

She cups his face. "Ricky, you're so worthy of love. More worthy than anyone I know."

He faintly smiles. "That's sweet, but I don't believe you." 

"I know for a fact that someone out there wants to be with you. They want you so much sometimes it hurts because they know you're far too good for them. They always want you to be happy and they get excited when you call them, even if it's for something insignificant. But it doesn't matter because anything you call for is worth their time."

His cheeks were tinted pink. "Who?"

They both go silent as they stare in to one another's eyes. Nini feels her eyes water, which worried him. He was about to wipe away a fallen tear but was cut off by her lips smashing into his. He was astonished at first but eventually kissed back.

He pulled her so close to his chest that there was no space left between them. Her hands traveled through his curls as she deepened the kiss, licking his lips for permission to enter. He happily accepts and roams his hands across her back. 

She hopped on his hips, causing him to stumble back a bit but not enough to fall. He holds her legs steadily on him, not daring to break their kiss. He begins walking to one of the private rooms on the boat.

He pressed her against one of the walls as they made out. Their hands were getting more bold with every touch as they explored parts of one another's bodies that they hadn't felt before. Ricky detached their lips, making her groan in aggravation. 

"Do you really wanna do this?"

She cupped his face and brought him into a passionate kiss before pulling away. "I want this more than anything. I want nothing but you."

He smiles as he attaches their lips again. He picked her up and kicked open the door to the private room. By the time the night was over, they both agreed that this was most definitely their favorite date.

***

Ricky dances around EJ's living room as he hums along to some song EJ can't decipher. He's been like this for the past few days, and EJ wasn't sure what got his best friend all giddy. EJ laughed when he saw Ricky use his phone as a microphone. 

"Alright, what's got you all full of adrenaline, and where can I get some?"

Ricky beams as he slides over to his friend. "I had a really good night a few days ago."

"It must've been one hell of a night if it's got you cutting up like this."

"Hell yeah it was." 

"So what was so special about it?" 

Ricky plopped down on the couch next to him with a childlike smile on his face. "I had an amazing date with a wonderful woman."

That took EJ by surprise. "Wait, you went on a date? I thought you'd surely never go on one since McKenna."

"Me neither! But this woman is so perfect man; I really feel like we could be something more one day. She just gets me in ways no other woman has."

"What's her name? I definitely need to check her out if she's got you this whipped." 

"Nina Santiago. She doesn't have social media though, but I can show you a picture."

Ricky takes out his phone and shows him her contact photo. EJ took his phone to analyze her face some more. "That's odd."

Ricky raises a brow. "Why do you say that?"

"I could've sworn I've seen this person before."

"Maybe you saw her in public. It's not impossible you could've seen her around the city."

EJ shook his head. "No, that's not it. Do you know where she works? Maybe that's where I've seen her."

"She's a writer for the writing program at NYU."

EJ went to the university's website and looked under the writing staff. EJ shakes his head. "Nah man, she's not popping up."

Ricky takes his phone back and scrolls through the staff for himself. He searched her name multiple times on the website but came up empty handed. He was confused on why she wasn't appearing. "That's impossible."

"Dude, NYU would definitely remember to put up a staff member's picture."

"This doesn't make sense."

"I'm gonna look further into this." EJ pulls out his own phone and tried to find her. He typed in her name multiple times, but nothing came up. On the fifth try, he accidentally misspells her first name as Nini instead. He finally got a variety of results, but the last name was different. 

He presses an article for New York Times with the first name attached to the article just for the hell of checking. He gasped when he saw the exact woman Ricky had shown him with a different name, but he was shocked for an entirely different reason. EJ's reaction alarmed Ricky. 

"What did you find?" 

EJ gave him a sympathetic look. "Ricky, I think you should read this yourself." He hands him the device.

Ricky's heartbeat quickened by EJ's behavior. Ricky sees a photo of her over a column and reads the first few lines of the article and stilled. He almost didn't believe his own eyes at the horrid sight in front of him. He reread it a dozen times to make sure what he read was correct. He even pinched himself to make sure this wasn't some nightmare.

_Nini Salazar-Roberts aka "The Scavenger" is one of NYC's top journalists. She has never had a failing story yet as she continues to rise to the top. New Yorker Magazine is lucky to have someone who knows how to get down and dirty for the best of stories. See more of her work on the New Yorker Magazine website for the latest gossip._

He stopped reading after that. He doesn't think he could handle anymore of this. He feels a lump form in his throat as he remembered all their shared moments, the secrets he told her, the fact that he opened his heart to a woman for the first time in years, and all this time she had been faking it. It made him sick to his stomach. 

"Ricky, I'm so sorry man."

Ricky shot up from his spot. "I need to go. I'll see you at work."

He overhears EJ call his name but ignores him as he storms out of EJ's apartment. He didn't even try to stop the tears from falling down his cheeks.

~

Nini had been confused.

It's been a week since she's heard from Ricky, which was weird for him, especially considering the events that unfolded in the last date they had. He always contacted her every day, and she was wondering if maybe something had happened to him for him to just suddenly stop.

She tried texting and calling but was always sent straight to voicemail. Maybe he had gotten a new phone or number and hasn't told her yet. Yeah, that had to be it. 

She patiently waits for him to contact her first just in case her theory was correct. She always felt a shimmer of hope when she felt her phone vibrate but would get let down when she saw it wasn't him.

She waited and waited until it was two weeks later, and she just _knew_ something was up.

She decided to take matters into her own hands and knock on his door in the middle of the day since she knew he'd be there. After the third knock, he finally answered the door and had a range of emotions displayed upon his face.

"Hey, you haven't answered any of my calls or texts."

"Yeah."

She was waiting for him to further explain himself, but he didn't. "Is that all you have to say?"

"No, I have quite a few words to say actually."

"Mind if I come in?"

"Sure, why not?" 

She passes by him as he shuts the door behind her. She looks around his place and notices it's messier than usual, and now that she thinks about it so was his apparel. 

"You said you had something to say to me?"

He nods. "Yeah." He slowly walks up into her personal space, not like she minded. He gently pushed her chin up to look him in the eye. "You're truly something else."

Nini smiles, feeling those butterflies he tends to give her. "Really?"

His other hand began trailing up the front of her blouse. "Yes. Matter of fact, I don't think you're like any other woman I've ever met. You truly stand out from the rest of them, and I don't think anyone will ever compare to what you've done to me."

Nini's legs were becoming jelly at his words and sensual touching. "I feel the same way."

He smiles and begins closing the space in between them, but he stops when he's hovering over lips. "I wish I could believe you, _Nini._ "

She opens her eyes in fear at the sound of her nickname. "Wh-what did you just call me?"

"You heard me Santiago, or should I say Salazar-Roberts?" He rips the necklace off of her chest and examines it. He laughs humorlessly. "So this is how you did it huh? You been filming every moment we spent together for months for your fucking article. "

She felt her eyes welling up. "How did you find out?"

He scoffs. "Who cares how? What matters is that I did, and damn am I glad I did because I seriously thought that you actually were different Nini. I don't even know if that's your real name anymore. Did you even go to East High, or was that part of your little scheme? Who the hell are you?"

She audibly sobbed as he yelled at her. "Some of that is true."

"Oh shut up. I can't believe how much time I wasted on you. I should've just walked away that first night I met you. I really wanted to think that our connection was real!"

"It was real!"

"Bullshit!"

"No really, it was! I didn't mean to accidentally end up liking you, but I did Ricky."

"Oh thanks, that makes me feel so much better."

"Ricky, you gotta believe me. I do have feelings for you. I have for a while now."

"Believe _you_? That's rich coming from you."

"I know, I know, but please I can explain."

"I don't want to hear whatever lame ass excuse you have for coming into my life with the intentions of tainting it after I told you how I was affected by it. Hell, I invited you into my home because I saw you as a person I could confide in when it turns out you're the one I needed to stay away from. How can you look me in the eye and try to find an ethical reason on why you did this to me? To us?"

She dropped her head in shame since she couldn't come up with anything.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Ricky..."

"Save it. I never wanna see you again."

He turns away from her, not even desiring to see her for an additional second if he didn't have to. She took the hint to leave and walked to the exit. Before she left, she took one final look at him.

"Bye badger."

He didn't respond. She sighed and closed the door behind her. She held in as much of her tears she could on her trip home. When she finally arrived at her place, she completely fell apart. She scraped at her skin and wailed, not caring who heard her. 

She's never felt so much pain and heartache in her life. If she felt this awful, she couldn't imagine what Ricky was going through. She'll never forgive herself for this. It's not like she deserves it anyways. She deserves nothing but agony and permanent loneliness. 

She doesn't even bother reaching for the liquor in her cabinet since she felt it was the easy way out. She needed to embrace this pain to pay for her betrayal instead of being numbed.

She hated herself more than she ever has in her entire life because she lost the best thing that's ever happened to her.

And it was all her fault. 

***

Nini was basically a zombie.

Hell, even a zombie is more mobile than her.

She moped around wherever she went, not allowing herself to find peace with what she did to someone she cared so deeply about. It was painfully obvious something horrible had happened to her to others, especially her friends. 

Anytime someone would ask what's wrong, she'd give them some poor excuse just so they'd get off her back. But one person who noticed it the most that was outside of her circle was having none of it. 

Carlos practically kicked down the doors as he entered the room. Everyone knew exactly why he was there and who he was approaching as they watched in both fear and anticipation of what was to come.

Carlos stood over Nini with a disappointed expression. "Nina."

"Carlos."

"Surely you must know what I'm about to ask you."

"I do."

"The deadline is up."

"I know."

"And you've still given me nothing."

"Yep."

"Well what do you have to say for yourself?"

She sighs as she stands from her chair. All eyes were on her in the silent room. "I won't do it."

Everyone gasped in disbelief. Carlos' face became red with anger. "What do you mean you won't? You've never had a problem before."

"I mean, I refuse to give you any information on Ricky Bowen. It's wrong, and I owe him that much."

Carlos looked at her as if she had grown a third arm. "The hell do you mean you owe him that much? Do you know who you work for and what you do for a living? Why're you just now pulling this ethical move on me? Unless..." Carlos examined her poster and saw a certain gleam in her eye. "Holy shit, you slept with him didn't you?"

Nini hugs her body in discomfort. "Not relevant."

"Oh my god, you totally are into him. I guess not even the strongest woman in NYC can resist the Ricky Bowen's charm."

"Don't say his name!"

Carlos lifts his brows astounded she raised her voice at him. He smirks knowingly. "Oh boy, this is deeper than that. You actually have feelings for the man."

Nini's face flushed. "So what if I do?"

"Well, if you let your romantic feelings get in the way of your work, I may have to do something I won't enjoy."

Nini huffs. "What? Fire me? Don't waste your breath. I quit."

The entire office made some form of remark amongst each other, not believing the scene in front of them.

"You're quitting for some dude who knows you sabotaged him? Surely you're smarter than that."

"It's more than that. This job ruins people's lives for ratings and cash, which is scummy. After seeing how it affected the people we write about up close, I realized this wasn't it for me anymore."

Carlos rolls his eyes. "Oh whatever. Just leave what you have left of the Bowen file on my desk before you pack your things."

"Oh you mean this?" She lifts the hard drive with all the recordings. She waved it in front of his face before placing it on the floor.

Carlos caught onto what she was about to do. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, but I would." She begins stomping on it with her heels until it was completely in shambles. When it was crushed enough for her standards, she smiled. "Have fun making that report without that. Also, I never put it on any of the work computers, so there's nothing saved anywhere."

Carlos looked as if steam would blow out of his ears. "Get the hell out of my office! If I even see you're anywhere near this building, I will personally drag you out by the ponytail."

"Don't worry about me. I don't plan on ever setting foot back in this shithole." She opened her drawer with a box of her belongings already prepackaged. "Good thing I already knew it was coming."

Kourtney suddenly springs up from her chair. "I quit too! This job was shitty anyways."

Carlos groaned. "Ugh whatever. I should've known you'd just follow along with her. You won't be missed. Ashlyn, get started with job interviews for their spots. You ladies can see your way out."

Carlos shoved his shoulder on Nini as he stormed out of there. Nini smiles victoriously.

"Did we seriously just quit our jobs?"

"Yes, yes we did."

"Now what?"

Nini turns to look at her friend with a hopeful twinkle in her eyes. "We start over."

"Doing what?"

"Doing what makes us happy without harming others."

Kourtney beams. "I like that. I think I'm gonna go try to work for that new salon in Queens. What about you?"

Nini could only think of one place to visit first in order to begin her new life. She knew what she has to do, and it may involve a certain curly headed man.

"For once, the right thing."

***

Ricky had been distant from society. After the whole Nini situation, he was too afraid of what the article would be about since he told her so many things. He wasn't ready for the public to know that much about him.

He only spoke to EJ really since he knew he didn't have ill intentions. He avoided work, which is fine for him. It's not like club owners had to be at their job in order to make a profit.

His days consists of him rewatching comfort movies as he's wrapped in a blanket on his couch or bedroom. Ricky hated this. He technically wasn't dealing with a break up, yet he felt like hell. Somehow this emotional pain was worse than what any other woman put him through, even more than McKenna. 

It also didn't help that she always appeared in his dreams and his thoughts. It was almost impossible to get her out of his mind, and it was driving him crazy. The worst part was that he still had feelings for her despite what she put him through.

All of a sudden, he hears music softly playing outside his bedroom. He slowly gets out of bed with his throw blanket wrapped around his body. He automatically recognizes the song when he got closer to his window.

He peeks outside to see who on earth would be blasting "In Your Eyes" at 9 in the morning. He opens his window and was surprised at the sight in front of him. There stood Nini with a huge boombox that was almost the size of her over her head. She had what appeared as a knock off version of the outfit John Cusack wore in the boombox scene of Say Anything.

When she saw he noticed her, she smiled. He gave her a perplexed look, not sure how to react to this. When he doesn't say anything for a solid minute, she decided it was time to speak.

"So are you just gonna stand there and gawk at me, or are you gonna let me apologize correctly?"

He rolled his eyes as he closed the window. While he was walking back to his bed, he hears the music get louder.

"Walking away is a very badger thing to do Bowen!" 

He stopped in his tracks. He debated on even amusing this (admittedly romantic) grand gesture. After an internal debate, he groans when he chose to hear her out. He opened the window and was greeted by that damn smile she always made when she was around him.

"What do you want Nini?"

She turns down the music a bit. "A redemption."

"Why should I trust you now?"

"Because I've learned my lesson."

"Which was?"

"You're more important to me than some stupid article or prize."

"How do I know what you're saying is the truth, and this isn't some act again?"

"Invite me in, and I'll prove it."

He eyes her skeptically before sighing in defeat. He may as well hear this so he can decide if she's worth pining over. "Fine, but you've got like 10 minutes."

She perks up as she sets the boombox on the ground and runs up his door. Right as he opened the door, she was about to knock. She doesn't waste any time with pleasantries or awkward intros. 

"You said you didn't know who I was, but that's not true Ricky." She slides passed him, letting herself in. "You know my personality and character, not my backstory. So allow me to properly introduce myself." 

She walks over to him until they're inches apart. "My name is Nina, but I go by Nini. I do have two moms hence the double last name, and I did graduate from East High. I did work for the NYU writing center my freshman year but dropped out because I didn't like it. I ended up working for the New Yorker Magazine because I needed to find a source of income, and it was the only job that was hiring that didn't require a degree. But I quit."

"You quit?"

"Yes, I had to. After spending time with you, I realized that that job wasn't doing it for me anymore since it was hurting innocent people like you. I didn't wanna be the source of someone's pain. You helped me realize that, and I owe you for opening my eyes to see how awful I was."

She took out the flash drive and held it up. She could tell by his expression that he couldn't tell what it was due to its damaged state. "This was all the footage of our time together. I destroyed it right in front of my boss because I knew these displayed your most private moments that you felt comfortable enough to share with me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I contributed even more to the pain I caused you, so I knew I had to protect you. If you don't believe me, my boss made a very passive aggressive article about me betraying them on the website."

"But Ricky, I need you to know that what I feel for you is 100% real. I've never felt so attached to another person in my life. I've been torturing myself for the past month for what I did to you because I knew that I lost the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm not sure if I'll ever find something as good again."

"There are not enough sorrys in the world to make up for what I did to you, but I hope that one day you'll forgive me. I know I don't deserve your pity, but I had to at least apologize and express my feelings to your face because you deserve to hear it in person."

She wrapped her pinky around his. "Ricky, I'm helplessly, truly, and madly in love with you. I don't want to spend another moment apart from you. If you miraculously decide to forgive me, I promise I'll do anything to rebuild your trust."

She was about to continue, but he holds a hand up for her to stop.

"Did I run out of time?"

He sighs. "I may grant a few extra minutes, but only if you answer this question right."

She furrows her brows. "What's that?"

He smirks teasingly. "Are badgers better than wildcats?"

"Really Ricky?"

"There's only one right answer." 

She chuckles as she wiped her tears. "You're ridiculous."

"Says the person that dressed up as an 80's character and blared music outside my house at full volume." 

"It was for you!"

"And it was sweet."

"Is this your weird way of accepting my apology?"

"It's a step. Of course it'll be a second until I can truly feel comfortable around you again but..."

"But what?"

"But I'm willing to give this a try. If you pull some shit like you did again, you're out of my life for good, understood?" 

"Of course!" 

"Good." He pulls her body to his and rested his forehead on hers. "So it's Nini huh?"

She nods as she wraps her arms around his frame. 

"Yep."

"I like it. It suits you more." 

"I think I like when you call me wildcat more."

He smiles as he presses his lips against hers in a slow yet meaningful kiss. She happily kisses back. Her arms find its way around his neck. They kissed until they were breathless and immediately went back for more when they caught their breaths.

They both knew they had a lot of work to do to in order for them to be together, and but it was worth the hassle if it meant they'd be able to feel this absolute state of bliss for the rest of their lives.

***

_New York's main bachelor is no longer single! He claims he's happy being a one woman kind of guy. But who is this special woman that stole his heart? Read more about it on page 18._

**Author's Note:**

> Longest fic to date!
> 
> TELLING MYSELF MUSIC MV AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
> 
> What was your fav song(s) from his ep? Mine was _Telling Myself_ and _Sorry._
> 
> Go stream Josh's ep without adding to the rumors and hatred, please and thank you! I felt like posting something about the negative effects of rumors and hateful comments was appropriate today since ik it'll no doubt come to the trio involved with the drama today. I guess there was a reason for my months long procrastination with finishing this fic. 
> 
> Also, I can't wait for the virtual concert with him on April 16th eek!!!


End file.
